Fredericksburg, Virginia 1608-1908. Author:Sylvanius Jackson Quinn

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СКАЧАТЬ country, assembled at the Courthouse in town and offered their services to George Washington, who was then in Williamsburg, to defend that city from Lord Dunmore's threatened attack, and the country from his tyranny. After assembling they dispatched delegates to Richmond and Williamsburg to ascertain the condition of affairs and to what point they should report for duty. In the meantime, those ardent patriots, George Washington, Peyton Randolph and Edmund Pendleton, transmitted their advice to the people of Fredericksburg, and especially those who had formed the military organization, to abstain for the present from hostilities until a congress, then called or soon to be called, should decide upon a general plan of resistance. On the receipt of this advice, these patriots held a council, consisting of more than one hundred men, representing fourteen companies, who, by a majority of one vote, decided to disperse for the present They were burning with indignation at the murderous attack made upon their brethren of Lexington, Mass., by the armed soldiers of Great Britian, and the unlawful arrests, and retention as prisoners, of some of the leading citizens of Massachusetts by British military officers. And this feeling of indignation was intensified when they saw that this outrage was followed the next day by another perpetrated in their own colony and by their own Governor; and when he threatened to return from Yorktown, whither he had fled for safety, and attack Williamsburg with a man-of-war they were convinced that the enemies of the Patriots, the British and Tories, understood each other and were acting in concert. Yet, upon the advice of those whose lead they were willing to follow, and whose commands they were ready to obey, they agreed to disband for the present. Before dispersing, however, they drafted an address, which was tantamount to a declaration of independence, in which they firmly resolved to resist all attempts against their rights and privileges, from whatever quarter they might be assailed. They went further than to just pass resolutions; they pledged themselves, solemnly and firmly one to the other, to be in readiness, at a moment's warning, to reassemble, and, by force of arms, to defend the laws, liberties and the rights of this or any sister colony,from unjust and wicked invasions.

      They then sent dispatches to patriots assembled in Caroline, Berkeley, Frederick and Dunmore counties, thanking them for their offer of service and acquainting them with the condition of public affairs and their determination to be ready at a moment's notice to respond to any call that might be made by the patriotic leaders, who were then holding a council in Williamsburg.

      The resolutions and pledges were read at the head of each company of patriots encamped at Fredericksburg, and unanimously approved and adopted. The address concluded with the impressive words,"God, save the Liberties of America," which were a substitute for oft-repeated words," God, save the King."

      These resolutions were passed twenty-one days before the celebrated Mecklenburg resolutions in North Carolina were, and more than a year before the Declaration of Independence by the American Congress, which showed the intense patriotic fervor of the people of Fredericksburg at that early period, many of whom bore a heroic part in the subsequent struggle of the Seven Years' war that followed. Among the number assembled with these lovers of liberty, and most prominent, were Gen. Geo. Weedon, who served on Gen. Washington's staff, commanded with distinction a division at the surrender of Yorktown, and afterwards for several terms served as mayor of the town; Gen. Hugh Mercer, who rose to the rank of Major-General and was killed at Princeton, New Jersey, on January 3, 1777, and Gen. Gustavus B. Wallace, who served gallantly through the war, attaining to the rank of Brigadier-General.

      FREDERICKSBURG UNDER THE UNITED STATES.

      The long tobacco act of the House of Burgesses was the last act passed by that body that affected the commercial interest of the town or the agricultural interest of the surrounding country that we have any knowledge of. The Revolutionary war soon followed and our independence and new government was the result. It is not considered necessary in this work to attempt to give the part Fredericksburg bore in that struggle—the generals she furnished to command the armies and navy of the country, the line officers and soldiers she sent forth to meet and repel the invader, the statesmen she gave to provide for the armies or to form the new government and to guide it to a successful, permanent and solid establishment. All of these things are told by the records and histories of the State and country more accurately and in a more pleasing style than we can narrate them. We therefore pass to the new order of things.

      FREDERICKSBURG IN THE REPUBLIC.

      The first act of the Legislature of Virginia in reference to Fredericksburg, after the establishment of the young republic, was to grant it a charter, which bill was passed in 1781. It provided for the town a Mayor, Recorder, Board of Aldermen and a Common Council, and required that all of them should be freeholders. They were made a body politic by the name and designation of Mayor and Commonalty of the town of Fredericksburg, and by that title were to have perpetual succession. The Mayor, Recorder and the four Aldermen were ex-officio Justices of the Peace, and had power to hold a court of hustings once a month, and to "hold pleas in all cases whatsoever originating within the limits" of the town and to "low water mark on the northwest side of the Rappahannock river and half a mile without and around the other limits of the said town." They were given the sole authority and power of "licensing tavern keepers and settling their rates," to appoint a sergeant with the powers of sheriffs, a "constable and other necessary officers of court and surveyors of the streets and highways." A surveyor of the streets was appointed at the first hustings court held by the Mayor and his fellow magistrates, but he was known as the "Geographer" of the town for more than half a century, and was often so entered upon the court records.

      In civil cases the hustings court was not to have jurisdiction where the amount in controversy exceeded one thousand pounds of leaf tobacco, or its value in money, unless both parties to the suit were citizens of the town when the suit was instituted.

      The corporate authorities were authorized to assess the inhabitants and all property within the actual bounds of the town for all the charges of repairing the streets, and other matters of municipal expense. They were empowered to erect workhouses, houses of correction, prisons and other public buildings, and to pass all necessary ordinances for the good government of the town. They were to have two market days in each week, and appoint a clerk of the market, "who shall have assize of bread, wine, wood and other things," and perform all the duties of Clerk of the Market. The market days were fixed by law on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It was also provided in the charter that if any person elected to an office failed or refused to serve, he was to be fined. The fines were regulated as follows: "For a Mayor-elect, fifty pounds; for the Recorder, forty pounds; for any Alderman, thirty pounds; for any Common Councilman, twenty-five pounds; for the City Sergeant, one hundred pounds; for the Constable, fifty pounds; for the Clerk of the Hustings Court and the Clerk of the Market, each fifty pounds; the Surveyor of Streets or Roads, each thirty pounds." These several fines were to be imposed by the hustings court, and "to be levied by execution against the goods and chatties of the offender." The charter also provided that in case of "misconduct in the office of Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen or Common Councilmen, or either of them, the others, being seven at least, shall have power to remove the offenders," and in case the other officers were guilty of misconduct, the power appointing them was clothed with the authority of revoking the appointment. It was provided that if the office of Mayor should become vacant, the Recorder was to succeed to the office, the oldest Alderman was to become Recorder, and "so on according to priority."

      It was further provided "that all the property, real and personal, now held and possessed by the trustees of the said town of Fredericksburg, in law or equity, or in trust, for the use and benefit of the inhabitants thereof, and particularly the charity donation of Archibald McPherson, deceased, now vested in the trustees of said town in trust, for the education of poor children, shall be and the same are hereby transferred and vested in the Mayor and Commonalty of said town, to and for the same uses, intents and purposes as the trustees of the town now hold the same."

      At the session of the Legislature in 1782 the charter of the town was amended and the jurisdiction of the hustings court was extended one mile without and around the former limits of the town on the south side of the Rappahannock river, and made a court of record and as such was СКАЧАТЬ